Course Title: Information Technology in Construction

Course Code: BECM 4203

Computer-Based Project Management

Shuvo Dip Datta

Lecturer
Department of Building Engineering and Construction Management (BECM)
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
 Project Management Software

▪ MS Excel

▪ Autodesk Civil 3D

▪ RSMeans

▪ Primavera P6

▪ Timberline

▪ MS Project

▪ @Risk

▪ Crystal Ball

▪ BIM etc.

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Cut and fill design optimization using
Excel Solver

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 Cut and fill design optimization using Excel Solver

▪ The Gird Volume method is based on checking the four corner points
of each grid in a grid system that is imposed to model the site area.

▪ The net volume (to borrow or import) is generally expressed in loose

volume measure:

Net Volume = Total Cut Volume – Total Fill Volume

▪ The fundamental optimization objective in designing the final surface

of rough grading is to achieve cut and fill balance (zero volume of
borrowed or imported material).

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 Design Optimization Case (Op Case.xls)

In the rough grading project, a 375m (x) by 1000m (y) local area
requires the contractor to refine the grading design by applying 25m
by 25m grid system, in order to improve the constructability and the
cost effectiveness. After removing the reclamation materials,
existing ground elevation (z) surveyed at each corner point are given
in the excel file. The center area (100m by 300m) of the field is
designed to accommodate a large water tank after rough grading.
The elevation of this plane (the center square area) is fixed at 301
m. Figure below roughly demonstrates the field geometry upon
completion of rough grading. For the soil material to be handled, the
shrinkage factor is confirmed to be 0.95 while the swell factor is
1.1. Try to identify the best rough grading design by fixing the four
slopes (plane slope) in this local site are.

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 1.0 CUBIC 1.25 CUBIC 0.90 CUBIC
YARD IN YARD AFTER YARD AFTER
NATURAL DIGGING COMPACTED
CONDITION (LOOSE (COMPACTE
(IN-PLACE YARDS) D YARDS)
YARD)

1.25

1.0
0.90

In place Loose Compacted

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 Rough Grading in Local Area

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 Optimization Details

Grid method should be used to calculate the quantities of cut or fill

required in each 25m by 25m cell; add all quantities together to get the
total cut and total fill; then balance the total import and export volumes.
The following sums up the design constraints for rough grading:

1. Slope of each direction is constant and should be greater

than or equal to 1% (to ensure drainage) and less than or
equal to 3% (to ensure stability).
2. Total Volume in a unified volume measure is equal to zero;
Cut (+) + Fill (-) = 0.
3. Minimize the total cut volume or the total fill volume.

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 Initial Slope Assumptions

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 Proposed Ground Elevations

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 Height Difference

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 Volume

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 Calculated Cut and Fill Volume

From the existing and proposed elevations the calculated cut and fill
volume are as following

Cut Volume 188950.2

Fill Volume -162050
Net 26899.75

How to make the net volume zero?

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 MS Excel Solver

▪ A solver is a piece of mathematical software, possibly

in the form of a stand-alone computer program or as a
software library, that 'solves' a mathematical problem.

▪ A solver takes problem descriptions in some sort of

generic form and calculates their solution.

▪ In a solver, the emphasis is on creating a program or

library that can easily be applied to other problems of
similar type.
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 Optimized Elevation

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 Optimized Results

Cut Volume 172721.7

Fill Volume -172722

Net -0.0269

Slope1 0.01
Slope2 0.019445
Slope3 0.01
Slope4 0.017158

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